HOISINGTON, Kan. — A central Kansas town is looking to find better ways to alert their residents of emergencies. This comes after a police chase last month that left a lot of people with questions about what happened.

It was back in January when a fugitive chase involving both the police and sheriff’s officers left a lot of citizens worried and wondering what was going on. Many found out only by word of mouth.

“He called and he said you come home and you come straight in the garage and you pull the door down and come in the house. He said we’ve got armed robbers running around town,” said Farmer.

The incident prompted the city council to look into an alert system for the town.

“Recently we did have an incident with a fugitive that did come into our community, but in the past we’ve had water main breaks where we thought this would have been an appropriate thing. It’s a very timely topic,” said Jonathan Mitchell, the Hoisington city manager.

The emergency alert system that the city council is looking into would allow residents to sign up through a website where they would be able to receive text messages to their phones or receive emails about any emergencies that are happening in the town.

“I think there’s been a push for local governments to be responsible to their public, and to get the word out to the community quicker and so local governments are evolving and we’re trying to stay on top of that,” said Mitchell.

For residents like Nancy Farmer, she’s just glad there is a push to keep citizens informed. The city is hoping to have a system up and running sometime next month.